China's manufacturing sector faces a number of obstacles that could slow its growth this year, says a recent Citibank report. The most visible manifestation of this situation is that investment in the sector has been the slowest to recover in the Chinese economy as a whole. In 2020, investment in this sector fell by 2.2%. The reasons? There are several reasons. The profits of companies in the sector are their main source of financing and these were reduced in 2020 by the effects of the pandemic. Along these lines, Zou Lan, head of the financial markets department of the Central Bank of China (PBOC), attributed the slowdown in investment in the sector to the liquidity restrictions it faced last year. This is now compounded by pressure on its earnings this year due to rising commodity prices and the resumption of social contributions, which had been suspended during the pandemic. In April, the Central Bank of China noted, however, that investments in manufacturing activity are starting to show positive results thanks to the growing support from the financial sector.